100 Quotes About Preaching

I don't like to hear cut and dried sermons. No–when I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees. Abraham Lincoln

Through memory to knowledge on the way to stars that are stepping down to the stuffy rooms of modern bureaucrats, illuminating their ceilings, their horizons where everything is easily resolved by the piles of paper and recipes for how to live, create, run, eat, breathe, learn how to love, how to make love, how to sleep, how to dream, how happiness is achieved under the artificial stars of the new sky that emerged from the bureaucratic rooms of aspiring and impotent minds, unable to love, even though they had all their life to learn what they preach. Dejan Stojanovic

The talk of sin is of course to many a big turn-off; to others, an even bigger myth - because in reality, sin is like the spiritual equivalent of a microscopic parasite, or a virus, or better yet even, an infectious disease. And just as one might never know of, until visiting a competent doctor, the tiny pathogens progressively eroding one's body, so we might never know that in sin we are eroding our being and losing direction until hearing the Word of God rightfully applied. Therefore I ask, which of the doctors would then be the more competent: the one who finds the problem and gives the solution, or the one who willfully ignores the problem (or rather finds the problem when it is much too late)? Seldom does anyone write off the knowledge of medicine for the physical body as primitive practice, so neither must the knowledge of the Word of God for one's spiritual well-being remain written off as primitive practice - quite the opposite really. As it is written thus: 'Lean not on your own understanding. . Criss Jami

It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their [the communists' ] terms. It was a deal; we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching. They were happy beating us, so everyone was happy. Richard Wurmbrand

One should preach not from one's rational mind but rather from the heart. Only that which is from the heart can touch another heart. One must never attack or oppose anyone. If he who preaches must tell people to keep away from a certain kind of evil, he must do so meekly and humbly, with fear of God. Thaddeus Of Vitovnica

There's a way to preach the Bible unbiblically... You can use the Bible as the springboard for all kinds of ideas, can't you? Look around in here and find something that fits your fancy and then launch a rocket off it. People say, 'That was amazing, wasn't it? Remarkable what he got out of that.' Well of course it is because he put it in before he got it out. Alistair Begg

Teaching is no joke, sonny! .. Comforting truths, they call it! Truth is meant to save you first, and the comfort comes afterwards. Besides, you've no right to call that sort of thing comfort. Might as well talk about condolences! The Word of God is a red-hot iron. And you who preach it 'ud go picking it up with a pair of tongs, for fear of burning yourself, you daren't get hold of it with both hands. It's too funny! Why, the priest who descends from the pulpit of Truth, with a mouth like a hen's vent, a little hot but pleased with himself, he's not been preaching: at best he's been purring like a tabby-cat. Mind you that can happen to us all, we're all half asleep, it's the devil to wake us up, sometimes – the apostles slept all right at Gethsemane. Still, there's a difference.. And mind you many a fellow who waves his arms and sweats like a furniture-remover isn't necessarily any more awakened than the rest. On the contrary. I simply mean that when the Lord has drawn from me some word for the good of souls, I know, because of the pain of it. Georges Bernanos

May God give us much more grace to eagerly devote ourselves for the Great Commission. Lailah Gifty Akita

The Good News of the gospel of salvation must be declared to all nations. Lailah Gifty Akita

Our sacred duty is to proclaim and preach the gospel of salvation to all people from every nation. Lailah Gifty Akita

True preaching demonstrate the Spirit’s power. Lailah Gifty Akita

The devil can get you through your flesh. He knows the button to press on your flesh and have a way into your mind. The flesh becomes a transport medium for evil things if not killed for God. If Christ makes a home in your mind, satan can't get there. Israelmore Ayivor

We cause havoc to our society when we only preach miracles. Sunday Adelaja

Every living word that gives life was once without form. Michael Bassey Johnson

When everyone believes they are the life coaches, who are the players? Criss Jami

I'm surprisingly unconcerned with what people in my church believe. Beliefâ€â€°is going to be influenced by all sorts of things that I have nothing to do with, so I don't feel responsible for that. I'm responsible for what they hearâ€â€°–â€â€°and hearing the gospel, the good news about who God is, slowly forms us over time. Nadia BolzWeber

She became at once more intimate and more exalted. Richard Brookhiser

There are two ways of opening the eyes of people. The first is by way of preaching the Word of God and the second is prayer Sunday Adelaja

Jesus is the perfect name! He who put away his fame! And persecuted in shame! That you will never be the same! It's because of you and I He came! Believe him or have yourself to blame! In the book of life, have your name! Israelmore Ayivor

Preaching never edifies a prayerless soul. E.M. Bounds

We are like the moon. The moon shines anyway, but it does not produce its own light. It reflects the light illuminated onto its surface by the Sun and is never proud to say "I am the source of light". God shines through us, hence He deserves the glory; not us. Israelmore Ayivor

Just preaching "you are blessed" to a congregation is like giving them a big fertile land. They need the seeds to plant on it; they need business ideas, a little of which is enough! Israelmore Ayivor

Preach [and live] as if Jesus was crucified yesterday, rose from the dead today, and is returning tomorrow. Martin Luther

Compassion‬ is medicine to a wounded heart. When we show compassion to those who are suffering we preach Jesus in another way. Paul Gitwaza

Preaching vs Teaching:The difference between preaching and teaching: one makes you feel good, the other makes you grow. T.F. Hodge

God created everyone to love and to be loved; If you will not take care of people, just leave them as they came... D O N' T SCRATCH THEM with your actions. Israelmore Ayivor

The suicide committed by Sampson was partly determined by the craftiness of Delilah and partly decided by the disobedience of Sampson. Satan uses crafty means to set traps for us, but by our obedience of the laws of God, the traps remain functionless. Israelmore Ayivor

An advice is truly valuable when people not just give it their ears but also their obedience. Amit Kalantri

Proclaiming “the whole will of God” should be the goal–and the joy–of every church and every preacher. Billy Graham

Preach with authority. The authority for us is the Word of God. Preach with simplicity .. . Preach with urgency .. . heaven and hell are at stake. Preach for a decision. Billy Graham

Thousands of pastors, Sunday school teachers, and Christian workers are powerless because they do not make the Word the source of their preaching or teaching. Billy Graham

Nowhere in Mark 16:15–“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” [KJV] – nor in any similar Scripture did Christ command us to go only into the Western or capitalist world. Nowhere did He say to exclude the Communist world. Billy Graham

I have had the privilege of preaching the Gospel on every continent in most of the countries of the world, and I have found that when I present the simple message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with authority, quoting from the very Word of God–He takes that message and drives it supernaturally into the human heart. Billy Graham

When I preach–no matter where it is in the world– I can always count on five areas of human need that afflict all peoples. Emptiness, loneliness, guilt, fear of death, deep-seated insecurity. Billy Graham

God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. The weaker I became, the more powerful became the preaching. Billy Graham

Preachers are not salesmen, for they have nothing to sell. They are bearers of Good News. Billy Graham

I’m not a great preacher, and I don’t claim to be a great preacher .. . I’m an ordinary preacher, just communicating the Gospel in the best way I know how. Billy Graham

We preach Christ crucified. The cross is the focal point in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. It was no afterthought or emergency measure with God. Christ was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” [Revelation 3:8 KJV]. Billy Graham

Oh God, if You want me to preach, I will do it. Billy Graham

As the people came to a desert place to hear John the Baptist proclaim, “Thus saith the Lord, ” so [man] in his confusions, frustrations, and bewilderment will come to hear the minister who preaches with authority. Billy Graham

I preach a Gospel not of despair but of hope for the individual, hope for society, and hope for the world. Billy Graham

I am counting totally and completely on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not on Billy Graham. I am not going to heaven because I’ve read the Bible, nor because I’ve preached to a lot of people. I’m going to heaven because of what Christ did. Billy Graham

I know that many of the things I have said from the Scriptures have offended some, but I cannot afford to tone down the message. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:17, “I have a stewardship entrusted to me” (nasb), and that is to preach the pure and simple Gospel in whatever culture I am in. Billy Graham

Many churches have their eyes on the culture instead of on Christ. Many pastors preach on common unity instead of calling the community to repent. Billy Graham

When we preach or teach the Scriptures, we open the door for the Holy Spirit to do His work. God has not promised to bless oratory or clever preaching. He has promised to bless His Word. Billy Graham

I must ask myself, “Billy Graham, are you prepared to meet the Master at any moment?” Yes, I am–but not because I have preached or tried to help people, but solely because I am trusting Christ as my Lord and Savior. Stop right now and ask yourself that question. Billy Graham

Effective preaching must be biblical preaching, whether it is the exposition of a single word in the Bible, a text, or a chapter. The Word is what the Spirit uses. Billy Graham

Bible teaching about the Second Coming of Christ was thought of as “doomsday” preaching. But not anymore. It is the only ray of hope that shines as an ever brightening beam in a darkening world. Billy Graham

If I had to sum up the gospel I should have to tell you certain facts: Jesus, the Son of God, became man; he was born of the virgin Mary; lived a perfect life; was falsely accused of men; was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God; from whence he shall also come to judge the quick and the dead. This is one of the elementary truths of our gospel; we believe in the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the life everlasting. Charles Haddon Spurgeon

One of the bigger mistakes of our time, I suppose, was preaching the demonization of all judgment without teaching how to judge righteously. We now live in an age where, apart from the inability to bear even good judgment when it so passes by, still everyone, inevitably, has a viral opinion (judgment) about everything and everyone, but little skill in good judgment as its verification or harness. Criss Jami

I have attended church regularly since I was less than a week old. I've listened to sermons about virtue, sermons against vice. I have heard about money, time management, tithing, abstinence, and generosity. I've listened to thousands of sermons. But I could count on one hand the number of sermons that were a simple proclamation of the gospel of Christ. Rich Mullins

Stories arrest us. Parents use stories to capture the attention of active children. Preachers use stories to capture the attention of sleepy adults. Tony Reinke

I still believe that many Americans have a deep longing for that glorious moment when a sermon is more Biblical than American. Criss Jami

There is a difference between criticizing people and criticizing a people's uninformed ideals. That is, unless one defines himself or others by their ideals, then he is offended, and usually offended secretly. Because oddly enough, this person is the same person quickest to resort to dismissive name-calling, such as 'bigot' or 'zealot'. And oddly enough, he is always the one, the 'open-minded' one, who adamantly protests for, not only himself, but others not to listen to any type of scholarly theological truth inherently for the sake of his own personal, moral beliefs. . Criss Jami

There Is Only One Gospel... But The Preaching Is Different. Cyc Jouzy

Aye, aye, that's the way wi' thee: thee allays makes a peck o' thy own words out o' a pint o' the Bible's George Eliot

The problem with the prosperity gospel is that it makes prosperity the Gospel. God's word is flawless, however if your interpretation of the word is wrong, your application will be wrong also. Kingsley Opuwari Manuel

No one could preach if he seriously looked at his own sins. Bangambiki Habyarimana

But the three hundred and sixty-five authors who try to write new fairy tales are very tiresome. They always begin with a little boy or girl who goes out and meets the fairies of polyanthuses and gardenias and apple blossoms: 'Flowers and fruits, and other winged things.' These fairies try to be funny, and fail; or they try to preach, and succeed. Andrew Lang

I think this is irresponsible preaching and very dangerous, and especially when it is slanted toward children, I think it's totally irresponsible, because I see nothing biblical that points up to our being in the last days, and I just think it's an outrageous thing to do, and a lot of people are making a living–they've been making a living for 2, 000 years–preaching that we're in the last days. Charles M. Schulz

Here is where most preachers make their mistake. They are afraid that by preaching the gospel too clearly, it will be their fault if people lapse into sin. They imagine that the gospel is food for the carnal-minded. True enough, to many the gospel does become the smell of death unto death, but that is not the fault of the Gospel. That happens only because men do not accept -do not believe-the Gospel. Faith is not merely thinking, "I believe." Your whole heart must be seized by the gospel and come to rest in it. When that happens, you are transformed and cannot help but love and serve God. . C.F.W. Walther

A preacher shouldn't preach just to make you feel good. Then it's about the money not about the teach. He should preach the truth because the truth shall set you free. Alcurtis Turner

Martin Luther called the church building the “Mundhaus” (lit. “mouth house” or "speech house”) because he believed that the Graeco-Roman “pagan lecture” of the sophist entertainers who took over the Catholic church should be the focus of “the service”. Sermons might have been helpful in the later Middle Ages when even many Catholic priests couldn't read. However, modern research has repeatedly proven that lecturing is the worst possible way to educate others because it’s so boring. Might traditional, so-called-inspired preaching still be the best way to communicate God’s Word?” ~ © gfp '42â„¢ . Gary Patton

It does not answer the aim which God had in this institution, merely for men to have good commentaries and expositions on the Scripture, and other good books of divinity; because, although these may tend, as well as preaching, to give a good doctrinal or speculative understanding of the word of God, yet they have not an equal tendency to impress them on men's hearts and affections. God hath appointed a particular and lively application of his word, in the preaching of it, as a fit means to affect sinners with the importance of religion, their own misery, the necessity of a remedy, and the glory and sufficiency of a remedy provided; to stir up the pure minds of the saints, quicken their affections by often bringing the great things of religion in their remembrance, and setting them in their proper colours, though they know them, and have been fully instructed in them already. Jonathan Edwards

When we concentrate on preaching what people WANT to hear we will only succeed in exciting their flash and depressing their spirit. Olabisi Obideyi

Galatians 3:11-12...a precious text! A person becomes righteous in the sight of God by faith alone. What conclusion can we draw from this? The law cannot make any person righteous because it has nothing to say about justifying and saving faith. That information is found only in the Gospel. In other words, the law has nothing to say about grace.. C.F.W. Walther

We see that the law was not reveal to us to put a notion into our heads that we could become righteous by it, but to teach us that we are completely unable to fulfill the law. Then we will know what a sweet message-what a glorious doctrine-the gospel is and move receive it with exuberant joy. C.F.W. Walther

Here is where most preachers make their mistake. They are afraid that by preaching the gospel to clearly, it will be their fault if people ask them to send. They imagine that the gospel is food for the Carnel-minded. True enough, too many of the gospel does not become the smell of death and death but that is not the fault of the Gospel. That happens only because men do not except-do not believe-the Gospel. Faith is not merely thinking, "I believe." Your whole heart must be seized by the gospel and come to rest in it. When that happens, you were transformed cannot help but love and serve God. . C.F.W. Walther

Whether or not an utterance can be called law depends on how it is heard, not on how it is meant. Law is defined by its effect rather than its intention, and its chief effect is accusation the intimation of a less-than. William McDavid

To preach Christ is to feed the soul, to justify it, to set it free, and to save it, if it believes the preaching. Martin Luther

Authentic gospel preaching always engages people with eternal issues. Colin S. Smith

Any true definition of preaching must say that that man is there to deliver the message of God, a message from God to those people. If you prefer the language of Paul, he is 'an ambassador for Christ'. That is what he is. He has been sent, he is a commissioned person, and he is standing there as the mouthpiece of God and of Christ to address these people. In other words he is not there merely to talk to them, he is not there to entertain them. He is there - and I want to emphasize this - to do something to those people; he is there to produce results of various kinds, he is there to influence people. He is not merely to influence a part of them; he is not only to influence their minds, not only their emotions, or merely to bring pressure to bear upon their wills and to induce them to some kind of activity. He is there to deal with the whole person; and his preaching is meant to affect the whole person at the very centre of life. Preaching should make such a difference to a man who is listening that he is never the same again. Preaching, in other words, is a transaction between the preacher and the listener. It does something for the soul of man, for the whole of the person, the entire man; it deals with him in a vital and radical manner. I remember a remark made to me a few years back about some studies of mine on “The Sermon on the Mount.” I had deliberately published them in sermonic form. There were many who advised me not to do that on the grounds that people no longer like sermons. The days for sermons, I was told, were past, and I was pressed to turn my sermons into essays and to give them a different form. I was most interested therefore when this man to whom I was talking, and he is a very well-known Christian layman in Britain, said, "I like these studies of yours on “The Sermon on the Mount” because they speak to me.” Then he went on to say, “I have been recommended many books by learned preachers and professors but, ” he said, “what I feel about those books is that it always seems to be professors writing to professors; they do not speak to me. But, ” he said, “your stuff speaks to me.” Now he was an able man, and a man in a prominent position, but that is how he put it. I think there is a great deal of truth in this. He felt that so much that he had been recommended to read was very learned and very clever and scholarly, but as he put it, it was “professors writing to professors.” This is, I believe, is a most important point for us to bear in mind when we read sermons. I have referred already to the danger of giving the literary style too much prominence. I remember reading an article in a literary journal some five or six years ago which I thought was most illuminating because the writer was making the selfsame point in his own field. His case was that the trouble today is that far too often instead of getting true literature we tend to get “reviewers writing books for reviewers.” These men review one another's books, with the result that when they write, what they have in their mind too often is the reviewer and not the reading public to whom the book should be addressed, at any rate in the first instance. The same thing tends to happen in connection with preaching. This ruins preaching, which should always be a transaction between preacher and listener with something vital and living taking place. It is not the mere imparting of knowledge, there is something much bigger involved. The total person is engaged on both sides; and if we fail to realize this our preaching will be a failure. . D. Martyn LloydJones

Any true definition of preaching must say that that man is there to deliver the message of God, a message from God to those people. If you prefer the language of Paul, he is 'an ambassador for Christ'. That is what he is. He has been sent, he is a commissioned person, and he is standing there as the mouthpiece of God and of Christ to address these people. In other words he is not there merely to talk to them, he is not there to entertain them. He is there - and I want to emphasize this - to do something to those people; he is there to produce results of various kinds, he is there to influence people. He is not merely to influence a part of them; he is not only to influence their minds, not only their emotions, or merely to bring pressure to bear upon their wills and to induce them to some kind of activity. He is there to deal with the whole person; and his preaching is meant to affect the whole person at the very centre of life. Preaching should make such a difference to a man who is listening that he is never the same again. Preaching, in other words, is a transaction between the preacher and the listener. It does something for the soul of man, for the whole of the person, the entire man; it deals with him in a vital and radical manner I remember a remark made to me a few years back about some studies of mine on “The Sermon on the Mount.” I had deliberately published them in sermonic form. There were many who advised me not to do that on the grounds that people no longer like sermons. The days for sermons, I was told, were past, and I was pressed to turn my sermons into essays and to give them a different form. I was most interested therefore when this man to whom I was talking, and he is a very well-known Christian layman in Britain, said, "I like these studies of yours on “The Sermon on the Mount” because they speak to me.” Then he went on to say, “I have been recommended many books by learned preachers and professors but, ” he said, “what I feel about those books is that it always seems to be professors writing to professors; they do not speak to me. But, ” he said, “your stuff speaks to me.” Now he was an able man, and a man in a prominent position, but that is how he put it. I think there is a great deal of truth in this. He felt that so much that he had been recommended to read was very learned and very clever and scholarly, but as he put it, it was “professors writing to professors.” This is, I believe, is a most important point for us to bear in mind when we read sermons. I have referred already to the danger of giving the literary style too much prominence. I remember reading an article in a literary journal some five or six years ago which I thought was most illuminating because the writer was making the selfsame point in his own field. His case was that the trouble today is that far too often instead of getting true literature we tend to get “reviewers writing books for reviewers.” These men review one another's books, with the result that when they write, what they have in their mind too often is the reviewer and not the reading public to whom the book should be addressed, at any rate in the first instance. The same thing tends to happen in connection with preaching. This ruins preaching, which should always be a transaction between preacher and listener with something vital and living taking place. It is not the mere imparting of knowledge, there is something much bigger involved. The total person is engaged on both sides; and if we fail to realize this our preaching will be a failure. D. Martyn LloydJones

No language about God will ever be fully adequate to the burning mystery which it signifies. Elizabeth Johnston

Ye know, doan't ye, what it feels like when ye burn yer hand in takin' a cake out of the oven or wi'a match when ye're lightin' one of they godless cigarettes? Ay. It stings wi' a fearful pain, doan't it? And ye run away to clap a bit o' butter on it to take the pain away. Ah, but' (an impressive pause) 'there'll be no butter in hell! Stella Gibbons

It is one thing to know what is to come. It is another thing to confront it. Geraldine Brooks

The more spiritual successes that Edwards experienced, the more he seemed to intentionally infuse his sermons with language deemed to move a person’s emotional center–their souls–to spiritually and physically respond. Matthew Paul Turner

Edwards’s God was glorious, full of beauty, and seemingly uninterested in making people feel insecure. Edwards was a mystic, a man who didn’t simply write or preach about God, he experienced him. Matthew Paul Turner

My understanding from the Word of God is that I am supposed to preach for the maturation of the believer with a view that lost people are there. Unknown

So many people come to church with a genuine desire to hear what we have to say, yet they are always going back home with the uncomfortable feeling that we are making it too difficult for them to come to Jesus. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The high ground of Christ & Him crucified must be claimed in our preaching. Any other footing is a slippery slope that inevitably descends downward into vain rhetoric and mere words. To the contrary, every pulpit must present a towering vision of the unique person and saving work of Jesus Christ. All preaching must point to His sin-bearing, substitutionary death for sinners. All exposition must lift up this Sacrificial Lamb who became a sin-bearing Substitute for all who believe. Every message must exalt this Christ, who was raised from the dead, exalted to the right hand of God the Father, and entrusted with all authority in heaven and earth. Steven J. Lawson

While you were busy trying to prove God stands behind you, God was before me lighting the trail, so he could lead us both. Shannon L. Alder

The book-learned preacher who carries the badge of authority, is by no means religious. Abhijit Naskar

Anything we are preaching to people is what they become Sunday Adelaja

Before you get a beautiful feet, you must first of all get it dirty. That is what Christ did. He went to the souls out there and ministered to their needs. Let the church leave their comfort zones(air condition auditoriums) to the souls out there. when the church get its feet dirty, Christ will make it beautiful by washing it. Unknown

When a poor soul is somewhat awakened by the terrors of the Lord, then the poor creature, being born under the covenant of works, flies directly to a covenant of works again. And as Adam and Eve hid themselves… and sewed fig leaves… so the poor sinner, when awakened, flies to his duties and to his performances, to hide himself from God, and goes to patch up a righteousness of his own. Says he, I will be mighty good now— I will reform— I will do all I can; and then certainly Jesus Christ will have mercy on me. George Whitefield